San Diego Places
Landmarks, parks, beaches, architecture and long-running local institutions across the city of San Diego, the places that have been here for decades and should be here for decades more.
The essential San Diego places are Balboa Park and its 1915 Exposition buildings, Old Town San Diego State Historic Park, Mission San Diego de Alcalá, Cabrillo National Monument on Point Loma, and the coast from Sunset Cliffs to La Jolla Cove and Torrey Pines. For architecture, add Louis Kahn’s Salk Institute and Hebbard & Gill’s Marston House. For neighborhoods, walk the Gaslamp Quarter, Little Italy, Liberty Station and Barrio Logan’s Chicano Park.
How to read the cards: the ◉ marks a National Historic Landmark. The boxed tag gives the year a place opened or was built, so you can see how long it has been part of the city. The ♥ is an Architecture Pick, buildings worth a special trip. Businesses listed here have operated for many years; hours change, so check before you go.
Landmarks + History
7 placesBalboa Park
The city’s great civic park, shaped by the 1915–16 Panama-California Exposition. Its Spanish Colonial Revival exposition buildings form a National Historic Landmark District, Park Blvd & El Prado
Old Town San Diego State Historic Park
Restored adobes and early buildings from the Mexican and early American periods, where the town first grew below the presidio, 4002 Wallace St, Old Town
Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcalá
Founded by Father Junípero Serra on July 16, 1769, the first of California’s 21 missions, 10818 San Diego Mission Rd, Mission Valley
Cabrillo National Monument
Marks Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo’s 1542 landing at the tip of Point Loma, with harbor and Pacific views and the 1855 Old Point Loma Lighthouse, 1800 Cabrillo Memorial Dr
Junipero Serra Museum & Presidio Park
George Marston gave the city Presidio Park and William Templeton Johnson’s Mission-style Serra Museum in 1929, on the hill above Old Town
Chicano Park
Community park beneath the Coronado Bridge ramps in Barrio Logan, founded in 1970, with the country’s largest collection of outdoor murals on its pylons
Giant Dipper at Belmont Park
Wooden roller coaster that opened July 4, 1925, as part of John D. Spreckels’ Mission Beach amusement center, 3000 Mission Blvd, Mission Beach
Parks + Coast
4 placesTorrey Pines State Natural Reserve
Sandstone bluffs, trails and the rare Torrey pine above the ocean between La Jolla and Del Mar, 12600 N Torrey Pines Rd
Sunset Cliffs Natural Park
A 68-acre city park of carved bluffs, arches and sea caves along the western edge of Point Loma, dedicated in 1983. Watch for migrating gray whales
La Jolla Cove
Small, sheltered cove inside the San Diego-La Jolla Underwater Park, a protected marine area popular with snorkelers, swimmers and kayakers. Home to sea lions
Mission Bay Park
The largest man-made aquatic park in the country, 4,235 acres of water and shoreline with sandy beaches, paths and designated swimming areas
Architecture
8 placesCalifornia Building & Tower
Bertram Goodhue’s tiled dome and tower, the grand entry to the 1915 Exposition and the city’s skyline signature, on El Prado in Balboa Park
Botanical Building
Carleton Winslow’s 1915 lath house, one of the largest in the world, behind the Lily Pond. The city restored it and reopened it in December 2024
Spreckels Organ Pavilion
Outdoor pipe organ given to the city by John D. Spreckels, opened December 31, 1914, in Balboa Park
Salk Institute
Louis Kahn’s concrete-and-teak research campus, completed in 1965, with its travertine courtyard open to the Pacific, 10010 N Torrey Pines Rd, La Jolla
Marston House
Hebbard & Gill’s 1905 Arts and Crafts house for George and Anna Marston, on five acres of gardens next to Balboa Park, now a SOHO house museum, 3525 Seventh Ave
La Jolla Woman’s Club
Irving Gill’s 1914 arcaded clubhouse, built with tilt-up concrete walls and donated by Ellen Browning Scripps, 715 Silverado St, La Jolla
Santa Fe Depot
Bakewell & Brown’s Mission Revival station with twin tiled domes, opened March 8, 1915, in time for the Exposition and still a working rail hub, downtown
Geisel Library
William Pereira’s concrete-and-glass tower at UC San Diego, opened in 1970 and named for Audrey and Theodor Seuss Geisel
Neighborhoods to Walk
4 placesGaslamp Quarter
Sixteen blocks of Victorian-era commercial buildings in Alonzo Horton’s New Town, a National Historic District since 1980, downtown
Little Italy
The old Italian fishing neighborhood above the bay, now dense with restaurants, piazzas and the Saturday Mercato on W Date St
Liberty Station
The former Naval Training Center in Point Loma, dedicated in 1923 and closed in 1997, now an arts district, park and public market in its Spanish Revival buildings
Barrio Logan
Historic Mexican American neighborhood south of downtown, known for Chicano Park, murals and Logan Ave galleries
Eat + Drink
6 placesThe Waterfront Bar & Grill
San Diego’s oldest tavern, opened the year Prohibition ended, once the fishermen’s bar, 2044 Kettner Blvd, Little Italy
Las Cuatro Milpas
The Estudillo family’s handmade tortillas and rolled tacos, a Barrio Logan line-around-the-block institution, now at 1985 National Ave inside Mercado del Barrio
Filippi’s Pizza Grotto
Family-run Italian deli up front, red-checkered dining room in back, 1747 India St, Little Italy
Point Loma Seafoods
Fish market and counter on the sportfishing harbor, known for fish sandwiches on sourdough, 2805 Emerson St, Point Loma
Hodad’s
Family-run Ocean Beach burger joint with surfboards on the walls, 5010 Newport Ave, Ocean Beach
Old Town Mexican Cafe
Family-owned for more than 40 years; watch tortillas being made by hand in the front window, 2489 San Diego Ave, Old Town
Markets
3 placesLittle Italy Mercato
Farmers, food makers and artisans on six blocks of W Date St, at India St, Little Italy
Ocean Beach Farmers Market
Neighborhood evening market on the 4900 block of Newport Ave, between Cable and Bacon streets, Ocean Beach
Liberty Public Market
Food hall in a former Navy building at Liberty Station, opened in 2016, 2820 Historic Decatur Rd, Point Loma
Coffee + Books
3 placesWarwick’s
Founded in 1896 and the oldest continuously family-owned bookstore in the country, on Girard since 1952, 7812 Girard Ave, La Jolla
Bird Rock Coffee Roasters
Small-batch roaster named for the La Jolla neighborhood where it started, with cafes around the city
Nearby
1 placeHotel del Coronado
The red-roofed Victorian beach resort that opened across the bay in 1888, a National Historic Landmark, 1500 Orange Ave, Coronado
Just San Diego is written by Debbie Pisaro, a California real estate agent (DRE #01369110) with 24 years in California real estate, an Inman Luxury Leader, and the founder of Coastline 840. She represents buyers and sellers in San Diego and across California. Many of the homes she sells never reach the open market.
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